english lit. terms
schellhous english II honors literary terms for semester 2 exam
Terms
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- meter
- the repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables [pentameter, etc.]
- technical climax
- the turning point of a story when events are clear and only the falling action is next
- onomatopoeia
- word that sounds like the sound it represents
- ballad
- a long poem that tells a story
- poetry
- the most beautiful way of putting language together in a set way
- oxymoron
- two opposing terms (jumbo shrimp)
- stereotype
- something associated with a group of people
- hyperbole
- an extreme exaggeration
- 1st person observer
- inside story; just tells what can be seen and heard (seeing car crash)
- verse
- a metric line of poetry [monometer, dimeter, tri-, tetra-, etc.]
- internal rhyme
- rhymes occurring in the same line
- dramatic climax
- the most powerful/intense part of a piece of literature
- Gothic novel
- dark, sinister, dealing with the supernatural (Jane Eyre)
- 3rd person omniscient
- outside story: can read characters thoughts (God)
- rhythm
- the sound of poetry [meter or free verse]
- 3rd person objective
- outside story: only tells what can be seen and heard (reading about crash in newspaper)
- satire
- bringing about awareness through humor
- verbal irony
- when someone says one thing but means another
- foot
- different patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables [iambic, anapestic, trochaic, etc.]
- assonance
- repetition of vowel sounds
- mood
- the feeling the text gives the reader; influenced by tone, setting, atmosphere
- local color
- putting local things into a story (Skyline, "please?")
- parable
- short story with a moral
- alliteration
- repetition of consonant sounds
- tragedy
- "tragic flaw" brings down the tragic hero
- epiphany
- a sudden understanding
- exposition
- writing intended to explain something (beginning of a story)
- characterization
- the method an author uses to reveal the essence of a character
- dramatic irony
- when the audience knows something the characters don't
- antagonist
- WHATever opposes the protagonist
- 1st person subjective
- inside story; has a biased point of view about what happened (your car hit)
- enjambment
- a sentence that is split between lines
- allusion
- reference to something common knowledge
- scansion
- the meter, verse, and foot of a poem
- 1st person detached
- inside story; narrator is looking back from a vantage of security (reminiscing)
- conflict
- two opposing forces (technical and dramatic)
- theme
- a general statement revealing a truth shown in the story
- flat
- one-sided character
- protagonist
- the main character who encounters a conflict
- sonnet
- 14 line poem with iambic pentameter
- round
- many-sided character with opposing traits
- foil
- character who reveals more characterization of the protagonist (sometimes the opposite)
- drama
- form of literature (plays)
- tone
- the feeling the author takes toward the piece of literature
- foreshadowing
- a hint/clue at the beginning of a story revealing what will happen next
- genre
- a type of literature
- dynamic
- character encounters a life-changing conflict that brings about a character change
- personification
- giving human traits to something nonhuman
- canto
- main division in a long poem
- allegory
- every character/thing stands for something else in real life (Animal Farm)
- static
- character stays the same throughout a piece of literature
- blank verse
- unrhymed iambic pentameter
- poetic justice
- "karma"
- situational irony
- when the complete opposite of what is expected happens
- caesura
- a sudden pause or break in poetry
- fable
- short story that usually teaches a lesson (animals stories)
- antithesis
- an opposition of ideas/characters (opposite)
- imagery
- writing that appeals to ALL senses
- free verse
- poetry with no meter or rhyme scheme
- symbol
- a concrete thing standing for something abstract
- refrain
- repetition of a line or phrase at regular intervals
- analogy
- two unlike things being linked by one like trait (tree:leaves::flower:petal)